Air New Zealand worker strike threatens pre-Christmas flights

Flights between Australia and New Zealand leading up to Christmas could be disrupted or cancelled due to a union dispute at the Kiwi national carrier, which threatens to up-end travel plans for thousands of people.

Air New Zealand said on Friday that unions representing about a thousand aircraft maintenance engineers, logistics staff and related workers had notified it that their members intended to launch a total strike on Friday, December 21.

Air New Zealand said more than 40,000 people could be disrupted if the strike goes ahead. Credit:AP

The airline said 42,000 customers were booked to travel on international and domestic services that day - its busiest of the year - and now faced the prospect of their flights being cancelled.

The dispute could also disrupt flights operated by Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin, which use Air New Zealand's engineers for ground work on the other side of the Tasman.

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The Australian airlines said they did not expect the strike to have a major impact on their services if it goes ahead.

“We know how important summer holidays are for our customers," Air New Zealand's general manager of aircraft maintenance, Viv de Beus, said.

"It would be devastating to see the holiday plans of more than 40,000 hardworking Kiwis and international visitors ruined.

"We remain committed to working closely with the engineers’ unions to reach a reasonable agreement and avoid strike action if at all possible.”

The strike is over a pay dispute between the airline and the workers' unions. Air New Zealand accused its engineers of using passengers as a "bargaining chip".

Air New Zealand has 10 flights from Sydney to New Zealand cities scheduled on the day of the strike and nine from Melbourne.

The carrier said it would contact passengers booked to travel on December 21 closer to the date if it looked like the strike was going ahead, and asked passengers to avoid calling the airline as no further information was available.

The Aviation and Marine Engineers Association said it had hoped wage negotiations would have been concluded by now, and was taking industrial action only after members "resoundingly rejected" the airline's latest offer.

The deal they rejected was for a general wage increase of 2 per cent in the first year, and 3 per cent over the next 18 months, but also rolled back overtime payments from double time to time and a half.

"The best way for Air New Zealand to bring its overtime cost down is for it to ensure it has sufficient staff, which is also good management," the union said in a statement.

"If Air New Zealand was genuinely concerned about its customers, it would have resolved this matter early and quietly."

The parties will meet again next week, and the AMEA said it hoped Air New Zealand would "see sense and make a sensible offer to resolve this dispute".

The airline said the average income of the staff set to strike was $NZ115,000 ($109,500) – more than double the average wage in New Zealand.